If you don’t know who your target market is….

I’m in a Facebook group where last week a designer posted his portfolio and wanted feedback. It was difficult to provide much feedback, however, because he hadn’t tailored his portfolio for anyone in particular.

When it was suggested to him that he choose a market, he asked, “How do I figure that out?” to which Tara Alemany, of Aleweb Social Marketing, gave what I thought was a very clear and simple answer, which I am reposting here:

If you don’t know who your market is yet, here’s one way to start figuring it out.

Look back at your existing client list. Who have you worked with that you enjoyed the most? Describe them. What did you like about working with them? What didn’t you like.

Do this for each client, then compile the things you liked and use that to define who you want to work with in future.

As part of the exercise, you can consider what services they used, and then think about what services they might need as an extension of what they’ve already done with you. Add that to your list.

Keep refining it as you go along. However, once you have some idea of who your target market is, it’s fairly easy to figure out where they congregate. Each social network has a clear set of user demographics. Just keep at it!